Big in Japan (phrase)
Big in Japan}} Big in Japan was originally a scornful phrase applied to Western rock bands that failed to sell many records in the United States and/or the United Kingdom. During the 1960s and 1970s, Japanese pop culture was not yet considered very cool in the English-speaking world. Thus, though a band might have tens of thousands of Japanese fans, it was not considered truly successful: the band was only big in Japan. , a notable "Big in Japan" band from the United States.[http://www.ongen.net/international/artist/feature/mrbig090304/index.php Featured Artist : MR BIG] Ongen.net (USEN) They were one of the two most popular foreign music"Yōgaku" ("Foreign music"), every music from an outer place, more specifically, the Western world artists in Japan alongside another "Big in Japan" Bon JoviSankei, Reunited Mr. Big is planning their first Japanese tour in this June February 21, 2009, while outside Japan they were generally considered a one-hit wonder with their single To Be With You.]] Original usage For example, Scorpions initially had only mediocre success in Europe and the United States , yet were Big in Japan, as evidenced by their 1978 tour of the country and the double live album Tokyo Tapes. Rough Guides. ISBN 1843531054, ISBN 9781843531050. p. 909 Another example is The Ventures, a band formed in 1959 and touring Japan each year since 1965, having logged over 2,000 concerts there by 2006. McGraw-Hill International. ISBN 0335216900, ISBN 9780335216901. pp. 152-154 "Being 'Big in Japan' turned into a positive sign of their closeness to the hearts of Japanese people, with the band embedded in national and local rock cultures.". The phrase was used as the name of a UK punk band in 1977-82 (whose name inspired the title of a 1984 hit single by pop band Alphaville) and was the name of the lead track on the Grammy-winning 1999 album Mule Variations by Tom Waits. The mockumentary This is Spinal Tap makes fun of this concept with its ending in which the band gets out of its career slump by performing in Japan. The phrase began to appear on several major Japanese foreign-rock magazines, especially the Music Life magazine, in the late 1970s, and in most cases, the "big in Japan" artists became popular in Japan because of being featured by Music Life. In the late 20th, notable "big in Japan" artists included several stadium rock bands from the United States of America, metal artists from Northern European countries such as Norway, Denmark, and especially Sweden and Finland, eurobeat artists from Germany and especially Italy, and UK rockThe term "UK rock" is an only-in-Japan term used for every rock music artist from the United Kingdom.UK rock / BritpopAll About artists literally from the United Kingdom. Many bubble gum eurodance artists from all over the European continent, especially from Northern Europe, who were not well-recognized in their homelands, became popular in Japan because of being featured in the likes of the Dancemania series and Super Eurobeat series. Notably, Me & My, Smile.dk, E-Rotic, and Captain Jack, were more known and made more money than the likes of Celine Dion and Madonna in Japan. Eurobeat, an odd music genre which has created several "Big in Japan" individuals such as Dave Rodgers and Andrea Leonardi, has itself been considered "Big in Japan" since several Italian men began producing it exclusively for the Japanese market, specifically the club scene. Even after the genre's popularity completely died out in the European market, some Italian record companies still maintain eurobeat sections exclusively for the Japanese market. Some bands have used their popularity in Japan as a springboard to break into other audiences. Notably, the Illinois power pop group Cheap Trick, which had been known as the "American Beatles" in Japan for their appeal, achieved widespread success with their multi-platinum live album Cheap Trick at Budokan. The band had previously struggled to break into the mainstream American market with their earlier albums. Furthermore, like Cheap Trick, some bands have lost their "big in Japan" titles because of gaining popularity in their respective homelands. The most notable example is Queen, along with Bon Jovi. Other usage built a large palatial residence in his second hometown Seattle.]] Since foreign music declined in popularity, and the magazine Music Life ceased publication due to low circulation in mid-1990s, there has been no reported case of "big in Japan" in the music industry.livedoor, "Dying foreign music : Former Big in Japan Jamiroquai appears on an one-coin noodle ad, screaming "I'm Hungry"" 2010-05-28 However, some people in other industries, most notably Bob Sapp and Takeshi Kaneshiro, have been described as "big in Japan". attracted approximately 100 press reporters when she returned to Japan in 2010 after a seven-year absence, while even a prime Michael Jackson could only attract 20-30 reporters in his official press conferences in Japan.]] Many Thai kickboxers in K-1, most notably Buakaw Por. Pramuk who is also the most popular kickboxer among women in JapanSadaharu Tanikawa, the head producer of K-1 GBR News July 08, 2008 , have been considered "big in Japan", as most of them are successful in K-1 but it is widely believed in Japan that their muay thai accomplishments in Thailand are usually not very good and therefore they are not well-recognized in Thailand. Two successful Japanese-based Taiwanese celebrities, Takeshi Kaneshiro and Vivian Hsu, are often considered "big in Japan", because it is widely believed in Japan that they failed in the Taiwanese entertainment industry and therefore they needed to make their way in Japan. Before Japan, these two were relatively unsuccessful in Taiwan; Kaneshiro was described as one of the "Big Four" rising actors in Taiwan however was the most unpopular one among the four. Hsu was a nude model in Taiwan where glamour modeling was considered "shady". It has also been used in sports, for instance, to describe Major League Baseball players who joined Japanese clubs at the end of their careers, for example baseballer Daryl Spencer. Sports Publishing LLC. ISBN 1596701870, ISBN 9781596701878. p.1 There have been many professional wrestlers who have been considered "Big in Japan" since the mid 20th, for example John Zandig is more recognized than the likes of John Cena in Japan. Jerome Le Banner is the most famous French athlete in Japan, followed by Zinedine Zidane. Australian kickboxer Peter Graham is better known than Jenson Button (a world-wide famous British F1 world championship winning driver who, in Japan, is only known as a former boyfriend of a Japanese fashion model) . Joachim Hansen is better known than any other Norwegian person including the prime minister of Norway in Japan, but is barely known in Norway. "Small in Japan" The derivative phrase "small in Japan", originally used for AC/DCBarks : AC/DC visits Japan, after 9 years silence Retrieved 2010-07-14 , has been used since early 1980s. In general, a small-in-Japan artist holds significant popularity in the Western world (in most cases the United States), and visits Japan many times to promote himself/herself, yet is almost unknown and unsuccessful in Japan despite being heavily featured by Japanese music media. Notable small-in-Japan individuals in 2000s included Britney Spears, Beyonce, Rihanna, Alicia Keys, Jennifer Lopez, Eminem, Lady Gaga, The Jonas Brothers, Amy Winehouse, Linkin Park, Lindsay Lohan, 50 Cent, The Libertines, Jessica Simpson, Connie Talbot, Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber.Artistic Jam : "Big in Japan" Retrieved 2010-07-14 On April 26, 2002 when Britney Spears made her 4th appearance on the morning news program Mezamashi TV, the anchorman Shin'ichi Karube introduced her as a "typical small-in-Japan singer who should get more attention", and described her as an "incredibly popular American singer, Aguilera's best competitor, America's young next big thing, whom the program previously introduced but still no one knows in Japan". The singer withdrew from the Japanese market in December 2003.Eiga.com (December 16, 2008) : "Britney Spears visits Japan after an interval of nearly 5 years" From the Japanese point of view, the phrase "small in Japan", a.k.a. "big in kaigai" ("big overseas"), is also used to describe Japanese celebrities who are unknown, unsuccessful or "forgotten" in Japan but making their ways outside Japan. The phrase has been used to refer to certain musicians such as Dir en Grey, certain actors such as Ken Watanabe, certain professional wrestlers such as Tajiri and Yoshi Tatsu, certain fashion models such as Ai Tominaga and Tao Okamoto, and all the Miss Universe contestants from Japan, most of whom are former unsuccessful fashion models, including Kurara Chibana and Riyo Mori. In the same context, some mixed martial artists, most notably Anderson Silva, Yushin Okami, Quinton Jackson and Lyoto Machida, who were unimpressive in Japan but won the titles after joining the Ultimate Fighting Championship, have been described as "big-in-kaigai fighters" by several major Japanese martial arts publications / TV shows such as Weekly Gong and MMA Kingdom. In one exceptional case, Digital Arts magazine has used the phrase to describe Xbox 360, a videogame console that made a success all over the world with the only exception of Japan.Xbox sales 'small in Japan' Retrieved 2007-07-11 Recent example As of 2011, Tynisha Keli is widely considered a BIJ person. This young American female singer has established popularity among young Japanese women especially those in their early teens since 2008 when she released her first single I Wish You Loved Me.Barks article about the "rising Tynisha Keli" - March 26, 2009 She has a large popularity for a foreign entertainer in Japan, however is relatively unknown in her home country of the USA. Her songs have even appeared in the mainstream Oricon charts, and she made several collaborations with Japanese singers such as Beni. Her fame has not yet been on the same level as K-pop artists', but she has been considered one of the most famous foreign entertainers in Japan since late 2000s, and has gained mainstream recognition in Japan where only a small minority of "foreign entertainment fanatics" know who Lady Gaga is. See also *Exceptionalism *Galápagos syndrome References Category:Music industry Category:Japanese culture Category:English phrases ja:ビッグ・イン・ジャパン ru:Big in Japan (феномен) sv:Stor i Japan (begrepp)